Decommodified housing under pressure: contested policy instruments and provisioning practices in Vienna

Abstract

Vienna is considered a prime example of decommodified housing, with more than 40% of the population living in social housing and strict rent controls in large parts of private rental. However, deregulation, an increased presence of corporate investors and rising housing costs indicate that the decommodified status of housing is coming under pressure. Against this background, we apply the concept of (de-)commodification to investigate how housing becomes a commodity by degree within the social as well as the private rental sector. We analyse how policy instruments and provisioning practices either enable or constrain the commodity form of housing in social and private rental and what consequences this has for housing conditions. Our findings reveal how the use value of housing–housing qualities and their ability to satisfy needs–as well as the exchange value–the general exchangeability and price of housing–are established in housing construction and allocation, and the way in which the latter comes to dominate the former. This serves to grasp the current transformation of housing systems in more detail and to outline potential pathways for advancing decommodification.